Every Christmas during the sixties, The Beatles were astutely releasing songs and albums into the market place like no other group. No one could compete. Their No 1 hits were relentless.
In 1967 after the death of manager Brian Epstein it was decided, mainly by McCartney, to release another film. The Magical Mystery Tour was broadcast in the UK on Boxing Day of that year. It was savagely panned by press and critics who until then had seen no wrong in any Beatle product. Even the American release of the film was cancelled on the basis of the press venom.
It would be fair to say the film content had virtually no plot and few songs... but it did have one extraordinary moment from Lennon.
'I Am The Walrus'. A psychedelic rock drone with Edward Lear nonsense poem like lyrics climaxing in an overlay of atonal sound and textures that had never been heard in a pop record before. Although Lennon had a similar feel previously on the 1965 Revolver album track 'Tomorrow Never Knows" (see post). He finally completed the sound collage experiment a year after 'Walrus' on an entire side of the double 'White Album' with the infamous 'Revolution No.9' (1968).
This period had produced a side of rock and pop where it seemed just about anything was possible, and even maybe the first sounds of what would be later called progressive rock.
The Magical Mystery tour was released as an album in the States which included singles previously never issued in the USA, but only as a 4 song EP in the UK.
Lennon later said "It was one of my favourite albums (Magical Mystery Tour) because it was so weird.. it also had 'I Am The Walrus' which is also one of my favourite tracks.. because I did it of course (laughs), but also because it's got enough little bitties going on to keep me going a hundred years later."
Which is what it must have seemed like to him since the days of the first Beatles record.
Although some 30 years after the original release of 'Walrus' the young Oasis were besotted by it and released their Manc Indie rock version. Without the sound collage it has to be said.
'I Am The Walrus' is still a compelling track and video. Unpredictable, experimental, surreal, and at least a hundred years away from pop records today.
